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Chemistry World podcast - October 2014

We speak to Jason Sello about the hunt for new antibiotics, and Monique Simmonds explains the chemical role of botanical gardens

Source: iStock

0.44 – No licensed treatment or vaccine is available for patients suffering from Ebola. But the World Health Organization (WHO) has advised that the use of experimental drugs is ‘ethically acceptable’ under the exceptional circumstances of the latest outbreak in West Africa – Doctors turn to experimental Ebola treatments

7.43 – Antibiotic resistance is a growing global problem. Jason Sello from Brown University in Providence, US, explains why the hunt for new antibiotics needs to break new ground – Pepping up antibiotics

22.13 – When you walk through the gates of a large botanical garden, you might be surprised to learn that, amid the beautiful flowers and glorious trees, there’s a thriving hub of scientific activity. Monique Simmonds, director of the Kew Gardens innovation unit, explains how plants are an abundant source of new and interesting molecules – Chemistry in bloom

29.05 – General anaesthetics may extinguish consciousness through mysterious quantum biological effects that cause subtle changes in the electronic state of proteins, rather than through ‘conventional’ pharmacological mechanisms such as directly interfering with receptors or ion channels, new research proposes – Knock-out theory puts new spin on general anaesthesia